Room with a View, V

Part Five

We discuss Outworld language, descend from the Falls, and consider the nature of others in the room.

Thank God you are here. In Outworld, that phrase, “Thank God”, has many connotations. It is bandied about by Outworlders and visitors to The Room alike. There are other phrases which should be sacred, but they also are uttered with a casual air so often that they may lose meaning. But, here in The Room, it is gratitude expressed to THE PRESENCE that is my meaning. I extend that gratitude for The Flow and The Door, and I am thankful for the entering by which The Beyond and Outworld have become intertwined, occasionally to a delightfully high degree which has been facilitated by The Room.

I know, it almost seems absurd to have so many words for reality. You may read them as symbols or metaphor, but their reality remains intact. In other words, everything about The Room is true. Thank God you are here.

The journey to the Falls is factual, and it is deeply true as a metaphor (as I indicated in Part Three). So, let us return to that journey briefly.

My friend and I had ascended beyond the Falls to its source, and you may recall . . .

“Magnificent is a word that can only partially bear the meaning, not only of what we were seeing, but also of what we were feeling. We were in the presence of life never-ending and a flow that was not at all visible in its entirety. We could not, in a glance, take it all in. Even turning our heads this way and that, we could see in only one direction. But behind our vision we could also feel the cool mist of molecular motion. And all of it was beyond our capacity to behold.”

Yet, we knew that we must descend, as we had work to do, and we knew most certainly that we must descend together, just as we had traveled to the source together. We also knew that after what we had experienced, life below would never be the same.

We decided, due to approaching darkness, that we would take the most direct route as we returned to the world below. And that meant we would follow the flow, regardless of obstacles or challenges; we would do whatever it took to make the journey. Little did we know that the decision to travel together, as well as to directly follow the flow of water, would test our limits of creativity, strength, and reliance upon one another. We each possessed certain qualities that, when combined, enabled us to do far more than either of us alone could hope to accomplish.

So, we began. At first, it was quite easy. It was liberating actually, because it was downhill, we knew the intended destination, and the flow guided us constantly. But it quickly became apparent that a direct route would meet with many difficult steps. Determined to follow the flow of water, always keeping close to the main channel, the volume grew in intensity due to multiple tributaries flowing in. In the ascent, we had possibly followed or crossed some of these side streams, but we knew then that it did not matter because we were tracking them to the source. In the journey down, however, we followed the flow, as I said, of the primary stream as it grew larger.

After some time of this, and in rapid descent, we heard the rush of water far below, and then abruptly we came to the top of another falls which we had skirted in the ascent. It was slightly more than 15 meters in height, and the drop was vertical. We had little time to lose because of the approaching darkness so we looked around at the trees. Seeing vines in every one, and both of us having good knives, we hacked several vines loose, and stretched them, testing them for strength. We found another vine hanging from a tree near the falls and tied our sections together until we could see that the length would reach the bottom. With no thought to falling really, we held to our lifeline, and with great care we slowly climbed and rappelled down to the base of this small falls. [This actually happened, although you may be incredulous].

Once we had overcome the secondary falls, we more easily followed the flow, and although there were constant challenges, we met them with a certain aplomb that had grown as a result of the testing of personal strengths and the calm assurance that had been built in the journey. We were simply stronger together, and in a short time we were casually walking through the ancient trees beside a mountain stream along the path that others had taken. In our hearts, and without a spoken word about it, we also knew that no others had ascended as high; no one else had traveled to the source of Buckeye Falls.

We were now back where we had begun, at the intersect of two roads that formed a T: one road from the forest whence we had come, and the other a country road going in two directions. That road joined other roads which became streets through towns, joining highways where all of the world was in motion, oblivious to this journey of two friends who had experienced together the source of all life.

There was a pleasant filling of the senses, a marvel of freshness with the smell of wild grasses and pastures, while the wafting scent of the mountainside lingered within us. We breathed, filling our souls with the air of wildflowers, fresh-cut hay, the sounds of song birds calling each other to settle in the trees, the sight of distant farm houses, a faint smell of wood smoke rising from chimneys, and that country road that stretched the length of the valley, all of it set in relief by the setting sun.

Such is the nature of being in The Room with a deeper awareness of THE PRESENCE, the source of The Flow, by whose entering Outworld, has forever altered all that exists. All of reality is a unity, even in apparent disparity with boundaries and that one Door and the veil all around. You know this as well as I do or better (the same? no matter? it is enough to know that you know at all). But, once again I am writing of what I know. And that brings me to the others in The Room.

I have mentioned various groups such as the Latins with their wisdom and a kind of detachment, and I have communicated briefly my views. That matter is settled sufficiently for a time, while the other groups are currently of no consequence. I have, however, written of seeing “friends” here in The Room, some of whom brought a momentary surprise to me. In recent Outworld time, I have learned a great deal about them that was disappointing to me initially. My own disappointment, however, was born out of a kind of naivety I suppose, possibly an innocence even that I will fight to hold. It is my choice to remain as a child, and I have a powerful sense that this is in accord with THE PRESENCE and it comes from The Flow.

You see, I occasionally share what I know of The Room and The Beyond, in ways that are decidedly the stuff of Outworld. I have found it interesting that what I share is met with an incredibly diverse degree of acceptance. Thoroughgoing Outworlders listen and smile and want to know more. And I tell them. I can tell them anything, and they in turn have shared deeply with me in a sacred trust that I hold dear. In bits and pieces, then, dictated by circumstance and occasion, it becomes a symbiosis, and I enjoy it and will never stop doing it. And if I must travel to do it, I will not hesitate. And the web of relationships will grow, I know, and become more complex and more rich than I can see. Let it be! Let this continue always, and when the veil is opened THE PRESENCE will reveal all as it is. This is quite enough for me, and I will not be alone in it.

These “friends” however (I have noticed I am using the word “however” very often, and I will highlight that and continue it, as I am writing of comparisons and contrasts), have benefitted from sharing at another level. And since they have been in The Room, I may have made assumptions regarding them. I have spoken somewhat freely, and unlike the Outworlders, these others have doubted. They seem to live in a theoretical kind of fog, wandering in The Room and speaking about THE PRESENCE, but in truth it seems they do not believe. Imagine my disappointment and fleeting sadness when some of them actually said that they did not believe me when I spoke to them of The Room and more. I do not in any way mean to communicate condescension, but if I am as a child, they have come across as infants. There are stalwarts, of course, among these others, and that bond with them grows closer and is something to which I turn regularly for some comfort. And, I have been here before, many times. The entering, of course!, was intended to allow us to navigate easily through this, bringing a truth that liberates, but I can see more bondage, even under the guise of so-called freedom. And, it occurs to me, now that I remember seeing it, that the blood on The Door (remember, it was a part of The Door itself), may have come from one who experienced this fully and may have died because of it. I suppose that I am prepared to do that as well, but it will not happen. I made assumptions and have learned from that, even as it continues to happen in cycles of Outworld time that actually make me laugh when I reflect.

Regarding assumptions, and heaven forbid (another fine Outworld phrase) presumptions, I have none. Reverence has pushed what might have been there aside. Really, this is true, and it has to be that way. Only THE PRESENCE is beyond it all, and my hope and yours rests in that. The Room, The Flow, the entering, The Door, all of it is the reality that abides in Outworld. And because of the truth of that, and having traveled with a friend beyond the falls to the source, I have an unwavering knowledge and a dedication that will not end, but will simply return, whatever the cost, to THE PRESENCE in the beginning . . .